Pineboards has launched yet another Raspberry Pi 5 HAT+ expansion board with the Ai Bundle (Hailo 8L) which includes a 13 TOPS Hailo 8L AI accelerator and an M.2 PCIe socket for an NVMe SSD.
The latest Raspberry Pi 5 HAT+ from Pineboards combines the capabilities of the official Raspberry Pi AI Kit and Raspberry Pi M.2 HAT+ into a single board, while supporting longer M.2 2280 NVMe SSD drives, besides shorted 2230 and 2242-sized SSDs.
Pineboards Ai Bundle (Hailo 8L) specifications:
- Compatible SBC – Raspberry Pi 5
- Storage – M.2 2230/2242/2280 M-Key socket for NVMe SSD
- AI accelerator – M.2 2230 A/E-Key socket fitted with Hailo 8L AI Accelerator (and thermal pad)
- PCIe switch – ASMedia ASM1182e PCIe Gen2 x1 to 2x PCIe Gen2 x1
- Host interface – 20-pin Raspberry Pi PCIe FFC connector
- Accessories – FPC cable, metal screws and spacers (no low-quality plastic screws…)
- Dimensions – About 90 x 55 mm
Before you could reproduce this setup with the HatBRICK! Commander, but you would have ended up with three expansion boards and a mess on your desk, while the Ai Bundle (Hailo 8L) fits nicely under the Raspberry Pi 5.
Software-wise nothing has changed and you can keep using the same software such as rpicam-apps for the Hailo 8L module, and boot Raspberry Pi OS from fast NVMe storage without requiring a microSD card.
Pineboards sells the Ai Bundle (Hailo 8L) for 90 Euros excluding VAT on its online store and several distributors in Europe and Asia. Additional information may be found in the announcement.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Excellent! At last a board with a PCIe switch to connect more than one device per lane! We’ve been missing that for so long, especially with devices like this with very few lanes. The price is not cheap but it also covers the Hailo module, so maybe other makers will finally be tempted by placing a PCIe switch on their devices to increase connectivity (especially with SSDs where dedicating lanes is a total waste of bandwidth).
AFAIK the hailo needs PCIe gen 3 to get full performance. I doubt the PCIe switch is gen 3.
You’re correct. The switch is ASM1182e (PCIe Gen2 x1).